#and just get stuck ruminating

[labyrynth]

i’m looking at 7s vol 1 ch 7: “the morning dew” (ch 28-32) which is actually proving fairly enlightening?

in short: from the information in this chapter, we can safely place nmj’s and jgs’s deaths in the second and third years after wwx died (or more specifically, during lwj’s seclusion). nmj probably died towards the end of the second year, and jgs has a window of just over a year after that, but is definitely dead by the end of the third year.

i was only looking at this chapter for now, so others may be able to provide more details, but it’s 2:30AM and it’s not happening right now

specific details/quotes under the cut

i’m measuring approximately in “years After [wwx’s] Death,” aka AD

p.300—lwj says xxc emerged from the mountain “twelve years ago.” narration confirms that this would be the next year after the siege of the burial mounds (1AD)

per villainous friends, xxc first meets xy while xy is still working on the yin tiger tally (ytt), and before the slaughter of the chang sect. xxc is already friends with sl at this point, and has a shining reputation, so it should have been at least a few months since he descended. (~1.3AD)

p.307—wwx theorizes that xy slaughtered the chang to test the power of the restored ytt. as of villainous friends, ytt incomplete, so we’ll assume he spends at least another month working on it (~1.4AD)

p.303—the time between the slaughter of the chang clan and xy’s capture was min ~two months; “half a month” + “period of mourning,” which would be ~49 days if my google search is accurate, =~65 days (~1.6AD)

p.308-309 talks about nmj’s role; p.309—nmj died “not long after” the debacle over xy’s sentencing. (i would estimate minimum 1-2 months, ~1.8AD)

it also notes that it was specifically jgs who was shielding xy, though it doesn’t indicate how long it took for xy to be released and go do another slaughter. (min est ~1.9AD)

p.313—after xy’s revenge on baixue temple and sl, xxc takes sl to baoshan sanren’s mountain. “another year passed before Song Lan also emerged” (~2.9AD)

also on p.313—“Song Lan had wanted to seek revenge against Xue Yang, at first. But by then, Jin Guangshan had already passed away.”(~2.9 AD)

and it turns out we do have pretty solid bookends on when these events could have taken place: p.311 talks about xy’s slaughter of baixue temple, no evidence left behind. wwx thinks lwj “would not have sat back quietly” and wonders why he didn’t do anything, then remembers lwj’s discipline whip scars; concludes “these incidents had probably happened when lwj was being punished” (p.313)(0AD—3AD).

but really just years 2 and 3, since it was a year before xxc descended, and shit didn’t start hitting the fan until after that.

i personally think the timeline is too squished in general, so my personal headcanons are actually that this shit took WAAAAY longer (like, sunshot lasted like 5-6+ years, postwar lasted at least 3+yrs, all these events during the timeskip happened over like 5yrs, etc.) but i tried to rein in my hcs here.

(i refuse to believe that xxc became famous overnight tho, i don’t care what this chapter says. ya boy was a 17yr old vigilante who grew up on a hippie commune, for crying out loud let the kid learn what money is before he’s thrust into stardom)

..... I think Jin Guangyao must have killed his father and Nie Mingjue around the same time.

The Villainous Friends extra ends with the fateful "not worth mentioning" that drives Jin Guangyao to kill his father, and earlier in the extra, Xue Yang asks if it was Nie Mingjue who gave Jin Guangyao his bruises, indicating that Nie Mingjue was still alive.

But at the stairs, the moment he decided to kill Nie Mingjue, their argument was kicked off by Jin Guangyao continuing to follow his father's orders, and it was important to the argument that Jin Guangyao was in an unstable position, not yet the sect leader/chief cultivator, so Jin Guangshan was clearly alive and kicking when Jin Guangyao made the decision to kill Nie Mingjue.

The song of turmoil took about a month or less to really do Nie Mingjue in, but we don't know how much time elapsed between the "not worth mentioning" and Jin Guangyao killing his father, so my best guess at a timeline is that "not worth mentioning" happened while Jin Guangyao was playing the song of turmoil, before Nie Mingjue died of it, and Jin Guangyao took maybe a few weeks to plan and execute his scheme to kill his father, during which time, the song did its job.

Still, that's two sect leaders, both of whom Jin Guangyao was known to be afraid of, dying in a very short amount of time. Unless he waited to kill his father until the timeframe wouldn't be suspicious?

[sillimancer]

yknow when my therapist closed last week's session with a "so next week is the election please talk to me before considering dying" talk I kinda brushed it off but now it's two days away and there it is, that funny feeling once again.

[minnieposting]

my ocd is actually going SO CRAZY RN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[opens-up-4-nobody]

...

[halloweendeity]

.

[ikishima]

.

[avpdgirlfriend]

girl who probably has avoidant personality disorder it's fine

[sgtcalhouns]

I’ve been spinning fresh start in my brain like a rotisserie chicken and the timer just dinged because I suddenly understand what needs to emotionally happen next

[trans-leek-cookie]

post. Post-posting clarity where you're like "wtf was I talking about". But also post-posting confusion where you're also like "wtf was I talking about" but it's less about your mental state While Posting and more about "okay. I've written many words. I remember. Approximately 20% of them. What the fuck are the rest of these?"

[grimmthorne]

i need to go back to the counseling center so bad because there's no way that I can go on like this 😁

[narryffdreaming]

another obsessive trait is me deciding not to reblog my writing anymore but making an exception for maisy and harry because otherwise it will aesthetically deeply bother me

[none-tadashi-left-hiro]

I have started associating the ritual of brushing out your hair with forgiveness

[firstofficerkittycat]

bones is waking up in a cold sweat stumbling into the corner of the room like i cant go there.......i cant end up there u know what they do to people there????do you know????????and spock is lying trapped underneath jim with one eye open like "leonard your culture's mythologisation of hell is based on a valley surrounding jerusalem where mass human sacrifice once took place. I can suggest this location for our next shore leave if you would be interested in seeing it for yourself. the atmosphere is quite pleasant

there's something so good about mcspirk just being this dude with his evangelical ocd and the 2 jewish boys that calm him down

[caelisbab]

Bro I do not want to continue existing but I literally cant stop so its just kinda whatever i guess. Like I probably wont do anything but given that ive been this low for months with little to no improvement other than getting a better situation, idk. I wont do anything but still

[creeperthescamp]

finished listening to Frankenstein. was good but pretty bleak and probs not the best thing for my mind rn. Sad! anyway started listening to war and peace and it's good. my dude leo takes the time to describe people's outfits which is delightful. art imitates art (my immortal)

[sleepy-steve]

pt 2 of steve "dies but doesn't stay dead" harrington and eddie "ferryman of the river styx" munson // 1.9k // pt 1 ♡

—

november 1984

Eddie checks. Of course he checks. Asks around, eventually to his superiors to make sure he wasn’t going to get in trouble for not collecting Steve. It’s uncommon, they tell him, rare, even. But not unheard of. People die briefly and come back to life. Usually only the one time. The answer should be good enough. Should be. Isn’t though. It frustrates Eddie to no end. Months of wondering and ruminating with the firm belief that he won’t get to see Harrington again anytime soon to ask.

He doesn’t have to wait long.

This time Eddie is on the boat. Leaning over the edge, a hand dangling low to the black water, staring at the same patch of grass he first saw Steve sitting. In fairness, all souls appeared in that general area. But Eddie is fixated on the exact spot Steve had shown off his deep chest wounds. It’s for this reason that Eddie jumps three feet into the air when Steve materialises in the same spot again less than a year later.

Sitting up with a rattling gasp and a look of fury on his bashed-in face—again?! Eddie briefly thinks—Steve yells, “Fucking Hargrove!”

“Christ, Harrington!” Eddie shouts, hand over his chest despite the distinct lack of heartbeat. “Could give a guy a bit of warning.”

Steve looks around, eyes surrounded by more dark bruising taking a second to focus on Eddie, chest heaving as he calms down. “Shit, sorry, man.”

They just look at each other for a few long moments, Eddie standing like a frightened cat on his still wobbling boat. He clears his throat to break the silence. “Who, uh. Who’s Hargrove?”

Scoffing, Steve drags a hand down the side of his face, then winces as it passes over bruising. “Douchebag new guy.” He sighs, settling his forearms on his knees. “His sister is friends with some kids I know. Was coming after them, so I…” Trailing off, Steve gestures to his face.

“What? Offered yourself up as a human punching bag and got yourself killed? Again?” Eddie says, trying not to sound too judgemental.

“Yeah, well,” Steve sighs. “I wasn’t just gonna let him beat up a kid. They’ve been through enough without some dickhead coming in and kicking the shit out of them.”

Eddie feels his brows pull together slightly as he sits back down on the bench of the boat, arms crossed over the edge. It’s not like Harrington was the big bully of Hawkins High, but defender of local kids is… new. “Sounds like a grade-A asshole.”

Steve snorts. “He is.”

“Kids were lucky to have you around as their… babysitter?” Eddie offers, cracking a grin.

Steve rolls his eyes, a small smile playing at the corners of his mouth. “Something like that. Probably didn’t need me at all. Stuck around long enough to see her drug him, so they should be fine.”

Humming appreciatively, a thought moves across Eddie’s mind, and he can’t help himself. “…No monsters this time?”

“Ha, ha,” Steve rolls his eyes. “Yeah, I know you don’t believe me, but the monsters did actually come back, which is why I was with those little shits in the first place.” He sounds annoyed, but there’s a fond look behind those bruised eyes. One that gives Eddie a little spark in his chest. “But no, this death was just a regular guy.”

It’s Eddie’s turn to snort. “This death. So casual.”

A full grin breaks out on Steve’s face, contrasting heavily with the bruises and the blood under his nose. “Well, when it’s happened this many times, kinda hard not to view it as like. Just this thing that happens, y’know?”

Eddie doesn’t really know. Of everything he’s learnt about death—through his own and through everyone he’s met since—this thing Steve goes through is beyond him. Incomprehensible. He nods anyway.

“How many times have you died, Harrington?”

“Hmm…” Steve looks up as he thinks for a moment. “This would be… five? Or six?” He shrugs. “I’m not sure if it happened when I was a baby.”

He says it so casually, so matter-of-fact, Eddie almost wants to double-take. It sounds so truthful, he struggles to not believe him. Even though Eddie knows he’s not losing much by believing him, a small part of him still has doubts. And worries for his job. “You gonna get in the boat this time?”

Steve snorts. “Not this time, buddy.” Something jolts in Eddie’s chest at the familiarity. “Maybe next time though.”

“Next time,” Eddie mutters under his breath, shaking his head. “You anticipate dying again?”

“Well, no,” Steve chuckles. “But based on how things have been… and apparently I’m not too careful.” He gestures at his bruised up face, eyes bright with humour between the blues and purples and reds.

“The monsters?” Eddie supplies, just teetering on the edge of sarcasm.

“Monsters, douchebag guys, car wrecks… you just never know.”

The casual tone in which Steve talks about his deaths still has Eddie reeling. It’s been well over a year and Eddie is surrounded by death constantly, and he still struggles to think about his own. Tells himself he’d rather not dwell, which is true, but it also hurts. He shakes it off, shifting his focus to the bruised and beaten boy in front of him.

“Or… you could save yourself the trouble, and get in the boat now?” Eddie gestures down at his boat with a little hand flair. He’s joking. Mostly. If Steve did have the chance to go back to the land of the living, Eddie didn’t want to take that away from him. Not that he thought Steve was getting that chance. Not completely, anyway.

“Wish I could, but I don’t make the rules.” Steve grins at him, like they’re sharing a secret. And they kind of were. Eddie wasn’t sure how many people knew about Steve’s semi-regular dances with death.

“And since when have you ever been one to stick to the rules?” Eddie asks, propping his arm up and resting his chin on his palm. Looking at the boy on the grass. His hair is longer this time.

Steve laughs, head tilted back. “Fair point. But if you want me on that boat, you’re gonna have to come over here and drag me onto it.” He raises a brow at Eddie in challenge.

Eddie rolls his eyes. “Wish I could, but I don’t make the rules.” He repeats Steve’s words back at him, mocking him.

“Well, well, well,” Steve says, tone playful. “Look who’s being a stickler for rules now.”

“I know,” Eddie drags it out, struggling to hold back his smile. “Crazy, huh? Divine punishment for being born the son of a criminal, I guess.” Eddie’s gaze drops down to the black water beneath him.

Steve scoffs at him. “Like you never smoked pot or broke speeding laws in that van of yours.” 

Eyes widening before he can stop them, Eddie’s shocked Steve even knows about the van. Shocked that Steve knows anything about him at all. What world is he in where the king of Hawkins High knows about Eddie and his beat up old van? Even being in the grade below him, Steve had a popularity pull that was noticed by those in Eddie’s grade. Confusion and surprise subsiding, Eddie finds himself leaning forward even further.

“Coming from you?” Eddie challenges back. “We all know about the famous Harrington ragers, Mister Keg King.”

The title makes Steve roll his eyes. “Never saw you at one.”

It was true. Eddie hadn’t attended any of the parties, for fear of his reputation making him a target. He drops his gaze again. “Didn’t think I’d be welcome there.”

Steve doesn’t respond, and the silence grows between them. They haven’t moved, but Eddie feels further away from him. Like the weird little familiarity they’d developed was being forcefully shoved apart. Eddie doesn’t look up to see Steve’s reaction. Doesn’t want the pity.

“So, you really can’t get out of the boat?” Steve breaks the silence with a complete topic change.

“Nope,” Eddie responds, popping the P. “She’s my new baby, now that I don’t have my van.” He pats the side of the boat with his free hand.

Steve shifts forward until he’s sitting as close as he can to the water’s edge without getting wet. Close enough for Eddie to see the broken capillaries under his skin and the little green flecks in his eyes. He takes in the cuts on Steve’s jaw and forehead, the two black eyes, the blood under his nose. The way his knuckles are bruised and bloodied to match. Something in Eddie feels oddly… protective. Like he wants to jump in front of anything that might hurt this guy he doesn’t even really know that well.

“Change your mind about getting in the boat?” Eddie asks, voice low, now that Steve is so close.

“No,” Steve huffs a laugh. “But you can’t move, so I figured I should.”

“Just that desperate to be close to me, are you?” It slips out of Eddie’s mouth before he can think about it. And Eddie wants to punch himself in the face over it.

But to his surprise, Steve doesn’t recoil away or yell at him. Instead, he laughs softly, cheeks faintly pink beneath the bruising. “What can I say? The allure of your… baby…” He says it with a smirk. “Very tempting.”

Taken aback by Steve’s… flirting is the only word to describe it, but that can’t be right, Eddie immediately switches to joke mode. He won’t entertain the idea that Steve Harrington was honest-to-god flirting with him. He won’t.

“I’ll get you into this boat one day, Harrington. Mark my words.” 

He knocks on the edge of the boat twice before smoothing his hand over the wood. Watches as Steve’s eyes follow his hand, seemingly fixated on it. Eddie briefly wonders what would happen if he touched Steve. Would that commit Steve to being stuck here? Commit him to moving on? Would Eddie even be able to feel him?

Gaze shifting back to Eddie’s face, a smile grows on Steve’s face. “Maybe. One day.” He shrugs, like his eventual death is a fun, whimsical topic.

Eddie is about to comment on Steve’s tone, but before he can, Steve’s head whips to the side, hearing something Eddie can’t. Just like last time.

Unlike last time, Steve doesn’t get up right away. “Looks like my time’s up.”

“How do you know?” Eddie is so curious, he can’t help but ask.

“I can hear—” Steve waves vaguely around his ear. “—stuff. From where I am. The kids are yelling. Hope they’re not too freaked out.”

“Guess you better get back then,” Eddie says, trying to hide his disappointment.

“Yep.” Steve pulls himself up into a standing position, now suddenly looking down at Eddie, who leans back on instinct, shifting back on the boat bench. “But I’ll see you next time.”

“I’ll be here.” Eddie gestures at the boat, palm up. Like he has anywhere else to go. “See ya, Harrington. Stay away from monsters.”

“I’ll try,” Steve laughs, walking backwards on the grass. Keeping his eyes on Eddie as he retreats.

“Try not to get that pretty face bashed in again,” Eddie calls after Steve’s already fading form, grinning wide.

Steve just laughs, the sound of it echoing even after his body disappears from Eddie’s sight.